Zonguldak...

Zonguldak... Memleketim.. Cocuklugum, gencligim...

My hometown; my childhood, my youth... the place that made me myself. I miss there very much.

Zonguldak is an industrial city in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Its population was around 616,000. It is an important seaport on the Black Sea for trade with other Black Sea countries. The main reason for industrialization is the coalmines.

Coal is explored in 1829. It was a great hope for industrialization. Since coal has a high calories, it is mainly used in steel production and steam trains, the symbols of industrial revolution. The city was founded on coalmine industry, mainly directed by public enterprise, TTK.

It was once the attraction point for migration from other cities, such as Trabzon, Ankara, Sinop, Erzincan, Rize and Artvin, etc. However, today the population is continuously declining due to economical conditions.

Its nature is awesome. It is the meeting point for green and blue.

The forests cover 52% of Zonguldak. However it has limited number of coasts, it has a structure of seaside cliffs. This makes it astonishing.

Zonguldak has a pretty different name. There are some stories for its etymology:

- The name comes from Zone Geul-Dagh (Goldag zone - Göl Dağı Bölgesi) given by French and Belgian mining companies, because there is mountain near city centre; according to Catholic Encyclopedia of year 1908.

- The name originates from the Turkish "zongalık" or "zongura", meaning that it is the reflection of men shaking because the region is threatened with malaria once upon a time.

- Zonguldak have arisen from the name of the nearby ancient settlement of Sandrake- today's Filyos river - which is said to be the land of Luwians, a branch of Hitittes.
- The name comes from a compound word, namely Jungle-Dagh, from jungle which the French entrepreneurs named due to uneven and wooded geography, and dağ meaning "a mountain" in Turkish.

Details are on http://www.wikipedia.org/ and http://www.zonguldak.gov.tr/